PNW: September Updates

Ummmm... Where did August go?

I don't have much to show for August - I'm hoping September brings back some of the glory days from last fall that got me thinking this gardening thing would be fun. Here's what I'm hoping to harvest this month: Three Brandywine tomatoes, some more radishes and pole beans, some bell peppers, and some lettuces and arugula. Time (and weather) will tell!

What are you guys up to?

Well out of the last 7 days we had frosts for 6 of them, so we pulled the rest of our harvest, on our 3 tomato plants we ended up with a total of 75 tomatos, lots of carrots, onions, and a few peas. I transplanted the 2 hanging strawberry baskets into the strawberry bed and noticed that now that we are getting freezes that I have a plant that decided to produce a bloom. We have gotten straw to bed down the strawberries for winter, when the days are getting colder. I tried to post pictures but they didn't load, I will try again tomorrow.

first day of school.....blah....i miss my little guy already

peppers are setting second fruit



celery that we harvested but left the roots in the ground is regrowing!



our corn was hit again....this time by what we think are birds....took off the dry up silks and left the tops of our corn looking like this



purple kolarobi (SP?)



pumpkins are turning orange!!

our son's



our daughters.....she has three of them!



veiw of our back garden area.....grape vines growing up the arbor.....beans, beets, celery, onions, squash, pumpkins, corn and our hoops with our fall crops....



hugs
rose

I added an extension to my bed and painted it with some non toxic paint.....



Just have the fill the empty part with Mel's Mix....

Daniel9999...your box's look great!!

after having a really warm week it seems as though our weather is starting to change....today was much cooler then the rest of the week has been.....hubby said we might get some rain sunday night and then its suppose to clear up again with some sunshine....

our later sowing of beans from all of our odd and ends of seeds left over from the last couple of years of gardening are coming in and we are eating & freezing them.....

the lemon cucumbers seem to be at the end......

happy to report our corn seems to be doing ok after everything its been thru.....had a first taste last night for dinner

our cantalope plants and vines are starting to look really bad.....we have several fruits on them....they are about the size of a large soft ball.....not sure if they will get big enough to eat.....

one problem we are facing right now is aphids on our cole crops under our hoops.....we did not face this problem with the spring crop......the only difference is our spring crop had onions plated in with the cole crops.....we are soon going to transplant some onions in with our fall crops.....those aphids are nasty!!......we find it strange that non of our other veggies have been effected by the aphids.....one thought is that since the cole crops are under telle.....preditors havent been able to get to them......

such is life with a garden......

hope everyone is doing well!!

hugs
rose

Hi everyone! Thanks for your updates.

Tananarose, no luck with the pictures still? Glad to hear your season went so well.

FamilyGardening, too bad about your cantelopes. I had aphids on the broccoli last fall too, but not this spring. Haven't seen them yet this year, but there's not much left of my broccoli because I never did buy any tulle and haven't been diligent with the BT. Last year, soap sprays alone didn't help - but once I got over the ick factor, I used a hose and my fingers to scrub them off each spot (in my case, they were holed up in the edge of a leaf they'd rolled over) and then sprayed and they didn't come back.

Daniel9999, that's a nice color you painted the boxes, and the extension looks great. What brand is the non-toxic paint/where do you get it?

My fall planted peas are coming up great and are beginning to flower. Looking forward to some stir-fry's with those. Grabbed a few potatoes for a side dish the other day. Harvested all the garlic and onion. My garlic made it to full size I think but the onions were silly little things. I think I had to cut up three of them to get 1/4 cup. Definitely trying again on those though. Managed to get only two carrots out of my two squares, which was a big let down this year. I think next year I'll save them for a fall crop only.

Can someone give me some hints on how to grow lettuce? Everything I read says they grow so quickly. Mine have barely developed their two true leaves at a month old. I eat a salad every single day, and I'm getting a little frustrated that I haven't been able to eat a homegrown one yet!

Thanks Gwennifer and Family Gardening!

Mythic Non-Toxic Paint is the brand name...the color is called sweet summer.

http://www.mythicpaint.com/index.aspx

I got it at Kaleidoscope Paint in Portland OR.

Kaleidoscope Paint

store (503) 236 6919
fax (503) 239 7897

909 SE Salmon St.
Portland, OR 97214

http://www.kaleidoscopepaint.com/paint/mythicPaint.html

gwen....what kind of seeds are you planting for your lettuce?

here is our lettuce ( the lighter color green) under the telle with our cole crops.....we direct seeded them Aug 10th......thought maybe you could compare to see if we are growing about the same......they just in the last few days started to take off....i have noticed they like more water on the warmer days....each time i gave them a drink they grew a lot more over the next few days.....i think i havent been giving them enough water......how is the watering for you?



we had a lot of hard wind today our poor corn....what a year its been trying to grow them!



on a happy note....found our first fall sugar snap pea flower



our childrens three sisters is getting baby corn....we are hand polinating them....so cute!



did an update on our artichokes in the rookie artichoke thread....they are blooming and soooo pretty!!

hugs
rose

we are starting to have much colder nights ....anyone covering tom's yet?.....do you think it would help to speed up our tom's in turning color?....does night time temps effect the tom's if it doesnt freeze?

we have stuff to make a temp hoop over them.....curious if anyone else thinks its time yet.....

hugs
rose....

It went down to 38 degrees at my house last night but we are going to warm up starting tomorrow. I will be covering some of my tomatoes but not until Oct. I wish I could help but we are probably warmer than you are in your area. I hope someone closer to you can give you some help. Best wishes.

just found out we are warming up a little bit this week during the day time.....its the night time temps i was wondering about....if it dips down like in the 50's does that effect our tom's we are trying to get ripe.....we cut off all of the growing tips about two weeks ago and put down our really ripe bananas.....they are starting to turn color in the last week.....

we also read to with hold water.....does anyone do that and found it works?

wonder if i should have started this conversation in tomato tuesday thread sorry
hugs
rose

gwennifer, two years ago and much to my misgivings, on April 15 I planted (with others on the forum) a bunch of nantes carrot seeds. Then to the delight of my grandkids when they visited in June, the carrot bed held wondrous sweet carrots. They grazed the bed to emptiness. Planted again this past spring (4/15) and again got lovely little carrots in June. Since then, some over-wintering carrot seeds sown in a different area of the garden are just showing up. Nantes sown in August is up some 6 inches. Carrots are definitely big sellers among the grandkids, so I'm trying everything, and every season. Join me? Nonna

we have some exciting news!!

the cantalopes that are small....well...i checked on them and found that even though they are small....they looked and felt ripe



so we went a head and cut one open.....



it only weighed just a bit over a pound ....it's taste was amazing!!



we are getting brossel sprouts!



we are drying sunflowers!....we even made a hanging sunflower for the birds to eat the seeds....it turned out really cute....



we are getting our second set of peppers!



the children picked their pumpkins from their three sisters wine barrels.....



and the childrens corn is starting to fill out!...we have been hand polinating it every day



SFG box 1.....brossels sprouts, sucker tomato, red scarlet runner beans, ( that are drying on the vines) purple cabbage, green beans and kale.....we have a few empty squares too....



SFG box 2....green beans, carrots, cucumber and fall sugar snap peas



we have been picking lots of plums



still getting crookneck squash and a few cucumbers even though they are powder mildew now....also getting lots of our son cherry tomato too!.....some of our harvest today....yummy!



we are still getting corn and beans ....this has been a great Sept!!!

hugs
rose

If your plum trees are loaded like mine are may I suggest trying to can some plum puree? It is listed under fruit puree in the USDA food preservation website and makes fantastic fruit leather. Great snacks for kids and adults alike during the winter months.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/fruit_puree.html

Oh, wow, thanks, happycamper. I shall add this to my "things to do" next year. This year's yield has already been canned, but your idea is so super, next year will be different. Nonna (hmmmm, wonder if the markets on Sauvie Island still have plums?)

thanks happycamper!!

off to read up on fruit leather

hugs
rose